On 5 Jun 2013 at 9:03am Peter wrote:
This parish council spends a million pounds a year of our money. It has over 20 councillors - why? - and only a very small % of its budgets is spent on things people might think useful such as the Pells Pool and allotments. Can't we get rid of most of its functions and admin and replace with a charitable trust? The district and county council are more than enough levels of democratically accountable councils - lets save some money and get more spent on the things we want.
On 5 Jun 2013 at 12:53pm Chrome wrote:
"The district and county council are more than enough levels of democratically accountable councils"
Problem is, the County Council and District Council is not particularly reflective of the Lewes electorate. In addition, I don't want to evolve more powers to Councillors in Battle, Hastings or the Wealden area who I can't vote for and have little or no interest in this town.
Not to say that the Town council is perfect, but in all honesty I rather them than the other two councils.
On 5 Jun 2013 at 2:19pm Merlin Milner wrote:
It might be worth acquainting your self with the facts Peter. Our precept for 2011/12 was £782,000.
Perhaps you would like to meet up with me, another councillor, come to a meeting, or pop in and talk to the Town Clerk.
You seem to be forgetting the Town Hall and All Saints which are very busy public amenities. Finally Chrome is correct in saying that we are the only Council that is solely for Lewes.
On 5 Jun 2013 at 2:30pm Merlin Milner wrote:
...and the precept has not increased.
On 5 Jun 2013 at 5:35pm Plain Jane wrote:
Peter makes a good point, but perhaps aims his sights at the wrong tier of local government. The middle layer of the three around here - Lewes District Council - handles about £80 million of public money each year. Its responsibilities (tax collection, recycling/refuse, planning, social services etc.) could certainly be re-allocated either up to the East Sussex County Council or down to the parishes and towns. Other parts of the country - such as Cornwall - have already done this. They have saved loads of money and work just as well. A move like this can also give the Town and Parish councils much more of a say on specific local issues such as parking and planning.
On 5 Jun 2013 at 7:54pm The old mayor wrote:
Personally I think the fact is THERE IS TOO MANY LAYERS OF GOVERNMENT, It is obvious that money can be saved, you are all now screaming just how important you all are, and frankly we don't care who goes, but some of you have too, together with your expenses too !! Cuts are painful, take the log out of your own eye !
On 5 Jun 2013 at 11:07pm xplorer1 wrote:
"lets save some money and get more spent on the things we want".
Hmm. Who's "we" here? You and your mates? Me and my mates? I know, let's elect a few people to represent us and they can decide. What shall we call them? Let's see - how about the "Lewes town council"?
On 6 Jun 2013 at 7:53am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
Social services is a county function, Plain Jane, so the district council doesn't even do that.
I agree that the number of tiers should be reduced. It's always seemed nonsensical to me that trading standards and environmental health are dealt with by different councils. I like the truly local nature of town/parish councils, and think that the district should be the tier to go. However, this raises the question of whether the county is too large an area to be accountable for everything. I think it would be a good idea to have the county split into 2 (Hastings and Rother, and Wealden, Eastbourne and Lewes) and a single tier authority put in place to cover each.
This would give an area large enough to address strategic matters, and achieve economies of scale, but not so big as to lose touch with local communities. When the 1996 review took place, they failed to really address the issues imo.
On 6 Jun 2013 at 10:15am jolewes wrote:
Well, at least one tier must go if my recent experience is anything to go by. I sent an email to LDC complaining about the litter caused by vermin opening rubbish sacks on bin day and also about the litter in the streets other than around the High Street. Their response? Did I want to purchase a wheelie bin???????
On 6 Jun 2013 at 10:36am Plain Jane wrote:
You're quite right about Social Services A.C-T, I was thinking about housing, which is a quite different thing. You're also quite right that to consider ridding ourselves of LDC would mean thinking about disposing of the other districts too. This seems such an obvious move to consider, but oddly, I don't see it on the agenda of any of the political parties.
On 6 Jun 2013 at 12:10pm No Pot Pourri wrote:
Strange that so many wanted us to be in the National Park, so planning decisions are now sometimes made by people in Hampshire we did not vote for. Yet another layer.
On 6 Jun 2013 at 3:55pm Vic wrote:
BRING BACK THE BOROUGH COUNCIL...and get rid of the rest
On 6 Jun 2013 at 4:41pm bastian wrote:
Merlin, can we have a notice board for Sussex events. we all used to use the market tower, but I undrstand it is/will be in the hands of the Town council and suddnly no posters, it was hwere we all went to find out what was going on all over the area. Lots of places in Lewes will only take poaters for events in Lewes, not outside Lewes, by people who are from Lewes.
On 6 Jun 2013 at 7:23pm Cllr Donna Edmunds wrote:
I couldn't agree more. Cutting out the District and Borough Councils and handing over their responsibilities to towns and parishes (where applicable, County where not) would save a huge amount of money.
East Sussex County Council Employs 18 people on a salary of £100k or more; the five district councils in the county employ a further 14 people between them earning more than £100k, so there is a total of 32 individuals across the county working in top council positions earning a decent whack. By contrast, in the whole of Corwall (which is a unitary authority), there are just 12 individuals paid more than £100k. That's a saving of £2m straight up.
Then we'd save a further £1m a year in councillor's allowances if we got rid of the Districts and Boroughs. So that's a third of the County Council's yearly savings found already.
This is why I've set up a campaign for unitary authorities across the south east. It is a work in progress so please be kind 
Check it out here »
On 6 Jun 2013 at 8:04pm Jim Cornelius wrote:
Neighbour. If you weren't ukip and wanted to privatise the National Health service I'd almost vote for you (even though you called me a village idiot).
On 6 Jun 2013 at 8:14pm Cllr Donna Edmunds wrote:
Well, I'm a forgive and forget kind of person. I'll shake on it if you will. The good news for you is that I have no authority over the NHS and am unlikely to in the near, middling or long distant future.
Forum: sorry for the double posting, not sure what happened there.
On 6 Jun 2013 at 9:37pm Jim Cornelius wrote:
Well, we can thank the Lord for that Donna.
On 10 Jun 2013 at 9:54am Merlin Milner wrote:
The Market Tower is owned and 'operated' by LDC. I will ask a District Councillor to raise this issue.